Bio
Joan Cusack is an American actress and comedian best known for her roles in the feature films Working Girl and In & Out, both of which earned her nominations for Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.
She starred with her brother John in the movies Sixteen Candles, The Martian Child, Class, High Fidelity, Grosse Pointe Blank, and Say Anything....
She currently stars as Sheila Jackson in the television drama series Shameless, since 2011.
She was the recipient of an American Comedy Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture for her role in Runaway Bride, opposite Julia Roberts and Richard Gere. She also received a Daytime Emmy Award nomination for her work in Peep and the Big Wide World.
Cusack appeared in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl for HBO Films. She has starred in such films as Friends With Money, Ice Princess, Raising Helen, School of Rock, Arlington Road, High Fidelity, Cradle Will Rock, and Where the Heart Is.
Her filmography includes comedic femme fatale roles in Addams Family Values, Grosse Point Blank, Nine Months, The Cabinet of Dr. Ramirez, Corrina, Corrina, Toys, Hero, My Blue Heaven, Men Don't Leave, Broadcast News, Say Anything and Sixteen Candles, among others.
She made her screen debut in My Bodyguard at age 15 and was the voice of Jessie the Yodeling Cowgirl in Toy Story 3.
Cusack's appearances on the small screen include a regular role on Saturday Night Live during the show's 1985-1986 season, and a starring role alongside Anne Bancroft in the BBC production of Paddy Chayefsky's The Mother.
Cusack's theatrical work includes the premiere of Brilliant Traces at New York's Cherry Lane Theatre; The Road at La Mama; and Imogen in Cymbeline at the Public Theatre in New York. She portrayed Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago; and was directed by Joanne Akalitis in 'Tis A Pity She's A Whore.
Cusack studied acting at the Piven Theatre Workshop. While at the University of Wisconsin in Madison where she graduated with a degree in English, she appeared with the improvisational group The Ark.